News

One-Stop Nature Shop

September 24, 2018

The La Crosse County Nature Connections Program is releasing a one-stop electronic resource for connecting with nature in La Crosse County – www.natureconnectionslax.org!

This electronic Nature Guide is a resource aiming to make outdoor, nature-rich places in La Crosse County easier to discover – for residents and visitors alike. The array of parks, nature preserves, and hiking and biking trails is expansive. As such, locating and accessing information about each one can quickly become an internet scavenger hunt. This Guide will become your ‘home base’ when seeking out natural areas in La Crosse County. The Guide’s interactive map allows you to search outdoor places by location. Furthermore, each trail has a specific page identifying all access points, directions, parking, and trail terrain and difficulty. A unique feature of the site includes a biodiversity rating for each area (variety of different types of life throughout a given environment) and a listing of dominant features expected in each location.

Research shows that connecting with nature has a multitude of health benefits:

Social and Spiritual – increased inspiration and increased social interaction

Did you know that, as little as 5 minutes a day spent connecting with nature can have a positive impact on your health! Furthermore, research shows that exposure to outdoor areas that have more biological diversity (biodiversity) provides the greatest health benefits.

The goal of the Nature Connections Program is to provide opportunities for the community to improve their health through increased exposure to nature and combat the national trend of people not spending enough time in nature. Funding for the Nature Connections Program is provided by the La Crosse Community Foundation.

LCF Stories

La Crosse Concert Band

Since 1931, the La Crosse Concert Band has been bringing lively and diverse music free of charge to La Crosse residents.

Grant Spotlight

City of La Crosse Parks

The Pettibone Park Fund provided $5,100 to pay for new and improved lighting in the Pettibone Park gazebo. Each year, the City of La Crosse can determine how to utilize the fund's distributions for improvements at Pettibone Park.